


Pumpkin

by Heliocat



Series: The Heart Of A Broken Story Series [4]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash Lynx Goes to Japan, Ash Lynx Needs A Hug, Ash Lynx is Scared of Pumpkins, Fear, Food, Halloween, Hugs, Jack-o'-lanterns, M/M, Phobias, Pumpkins, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:40:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliocat/pseuds/Heliocat
Summary: It's Hallowe'en, and Ash travels all the way to Japan to try and escape his phobia... However, his plan fails. At least Eiji is there to protect him!Part of the Heart Of A Broken Story series, but can be read standalone. Cute fluff!
Relationships: Ash Lynx & Okumura Eiji's Sister, Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji, Okumura Eiji & Okumura Eiji's Sister
Series: The Heart Of A Broken Story Series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981192
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	Pumpkin

**Author's Note:**

> Cute fluff to counteract the monstrosity I posted last time. This was too much fun to write, I swear!
> 
> For anyone who hasn't read 'Heart Of A Broken Story', Ash can understand and speak Japanese in this. He and Eiji use both Japanese and English, but generally will speak in their native tongues. Eiji is currently studying photography at Osaka University of Arts, and Ash lives and works with Max as a freelance journalist, but he does scientific and political journals himself on the side. Anything written <"like this"> indicates someone is speaking Japanese. Anything in _italics_ is a thought. 
> 
> British English spelling and grammar, because I'm English and stuck in my ways. 
> 
> Many thanks to Akimi Yoshida for creating Banana Fish - this is a work of fanfiction, so I own none of the intellectual property.

When he came home from the library, it was to find Max in the kitchen, elbow deep in a pumpkin as he scooped out the innards into a bowl. Several more of the hideous gourds sat upon the kitchen table, and Michael knelt on one of the chairs with a kid-safe carving saw in his hands, eagerly hacking away at one of them.

“Oh, hey Ash! Welcome home,” Max greeted him.

“Hi…”

“We’re carving Jack-O'-Lanterns!” Michael said, beaming from ear to ear.

“So I can see,” Ash said, staring at one of the crudely complete ones and trying to ignore his racing heartbeat palpitating in his chest. The pumpkin seemed to stare back, vacant triangular eyes and creepy bucktooth smile freezing his very blood in his veins.

“You wanna help?” Max asked him jovially, shaking the disgustingly sticky seeds off his hand. “We brought plenty – maybe you can help Michael carve a real scary one?”

“Yeah!” Michael encouraged him to join in. “I bet you’d be really good at pumpkin carving!”

“You know what,” Ash said in a reedy voice, backing slowly out of the kitchen, “I think I may have left my, err, glasses, at the library. I better run back and check.”

“But it’s the other side of Manhattan! You just got back. Also, you’re still wearing your-“

“Gotta go!” He dashed out of the kitchen and through the front door before Max could ask any more questions.

***

Eiji had just got back to his accommodation from college when the phone rang. He answered it, half-expecting it would be his sister. She was due to come over to visit tomorrow from her university in Kobe, so maybe she was changing the train times or had a request of some sort. He picked up the phone, ready to hear her annoying voice.

“Moshi moshi…”

“Eiji, I hope you have room in your university digs for me, because I’m catching a flight tomorrow!”

“Ash? You never ring me. Always write because exchange rate bad. Why ring now?”

“Please say you do, Eiji!”

<“Well, yeah, sure, if you’re willing to share a futon on the floor. I have Kaori coming over for a few days too.”>

“That’s fine. I just need to get away from here for a while.”

<“Ash, what time is it over there? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”>

“4am. But I can’t sleep. I tried ringing earlier, but I guess you were out.”

“Go to bed, Ash.”

“Oh God, it’s staring at me from the kitchen table… eeeeh…”

“What is staring?”

“Never mind… I’m leaving here in a few hours and I’m due to land around 3.30 in the afternoon. Kansai international.”

“I come meet you at airport.”

“Thanks! See you tomorrow!”

Ash hung up, leaving Eiji very confused.

***

His sister arrived by train mid-morning, and she’d brought a present with her.

<“Surprise, Ei-nii!”> she said, holding up a large box full of assorted squash. <“I brought you some autumnal veggies! I thought you’d probably know something tasty we could cook with them. And, ‘cause it’s Hallowe’en, I got a real big one – figured we could make one of those American Jack-O'-Lantern things…”>

<”Uh oh…”> Eiji responded.

<”Uh oh? Why uh oh?”> Kaori asked, frowning. <”I thought you liked kabocha?”>

<”I do, but… well…”>

<”What?”>

<”That explains why he was so keen to come over here at short notice anyway.”>

<”Who?”>

<”Ash is due to arrive this afternoon. He rang me last night, said he had to get out of America, and he’d booked a last-minute flight. Now I know why,”> Eiji told her. <”It’s Hallowe’en.”>

<”Ash is coming? Cool! I thought Americans liked Hallowe’en though?”> she said. <”Trick or treat and shenanigans and stuff? I’d want to be in America for that! What’s not to love?”>

<”It’s complicated,”> Eiji murmured, skirting the subject. Ash had been pretty embarrassed about his phobia, so the last thing he needed was his sister finding out. She was astute though, so she was bound to find out eventually.

<”Well, I’m still making a Jack-O'-Lantern,”> she said haughtily. <”I brought this big pumpkin and I’m not wasting it just because your boyfriend is a pussy!”>

<”He’s going to hate me…”> Eiji murmured, grimacing.

***

He met Ash at the airport, the blonde greeting him with a brief hug and a smile as he came through arrivals. He’d not brought much luggage with him this time, just a small hand luggage suitcase, suggesting that this really would just be a flying visit of a couple of nights.

“It’s good to be back in Japan,” he said happily.

<”Welcome back!”> Eiji told him warmly. “Did you have nice flight?”

“As nice as can be expected,” he shrugged. “I’m jetlagged like crazy, and the food was terrible, but it was worth it to return to this wonderful, safe country and it’s beautiful people!”

“So, you not here to see me then,” Eiji pouted.

“You’re an added bonus,” he grinned, nudging him lightly with his elbow.

<”You make me sound like a free gift in a tombola,”> Eiji muttered. <”Although I am happy to see you.”>

They spent the bus ride to Eiji’s apartment chatting casually about college and work. Ash had been assisting Max on a juicy article about the upcoming local elections for the New York Post, and Eiji had been taking urban photographs of Dotonbori street for a project on modern kitsch.

<”We should visit Dotonbori while you are here,”> Eiji suggested. <”You can get the best street food there! And I can show you all the weird advertising – the whole street is like a theme park, only there’s no set theme and it’s just a free-for-all!”>

<”Sound very Japanese,”> Ash said. <”You people have weird humour sense sometimes.”>

<”No worse than Americans,”> Eiji sniffed. <”And your Japanese is still pretty terrible!”>

“Better than your English!”

“Debateable,” Eiji laughed. “You still have good lawyer? I would have good case in court!”

“Shut up!”

Eiji lived just off-campus in a cheap apartment with a student rate. Everyone in the complex was a mature student, but they mostly kept to themselves. Each apartment was compact, with the living and sleeping areas in a single room with a kitchenette, a tiny bathroom squeezed by the entranceway. It wasn’t until they were climbing the external stairs to Eiji’s second floor apartment that he thought to warn him.

<”I think I said my sister is over this weekend too,”> he said, not looking at Ash.

“You did, yeah.”

<”She’s already here. I left her in the apartment working on a personal project. Hopefully it won’t be an issue… it’s just the one and it’s small…”>

“What do you mean?” Ash asked suspiciously. “I like Kaori! It’s fine!”

<”Well, just prior warning. You may not like her so much in a minute. That’s all.”>

Keys jingled in a locked door as Eiji let them into his accommodation.

<”Hey! You’re back!”> Ash could hear Kaori’s excitable voice coming from inside the modest apartment. <”Ei-nii, look what I did while you were out! Kabocha-kun is happy to see you!”>

_‘Kabocha-kun… oh no… no… nonono…’_

Eiji stood aside allowing him full view of his younger sister, standing in the hallway in stockinged feet, holding one of the world’s greatest horrors in her arms. Unlike Michael’s rough-hewn monstrosities, Kaori’s had precisely carved pointed shark teeth and angry looking ghoulish eye sockets that wouldn’t look out of place on the devil himself. Even worse, she herself was wearing a themed knitted jumper with a massive leery pumpkin right in the centre of her chest. She smiled at him; that same smile Eiji had when he was acting innocent but knew, deep down, that he was being a little shit. Eiji, meanwhile, had an apologetic simper. He shrugged slightly when Ash glared at him.

<”Hey Ash! Long time no see! You like my Jack-O'-Lantern?”>

“Is there no escape from those infernal things???” Ash muttered, backing up. His aim was to exit the apartment, not that he knew where he would go afterwards, but Eiji had closed the door behind them preventing an easy escape. He ended up reversing himself into a corner next to the shoe rack.

<”What’s the matter?”> Kaori asked him, coming closer while he tried not to panic. <”You’re very pale – even by your standards!”>

<”I fine!”>

<”You don’t look it…”>

<”It’s the pumpkin,”> Eiji told her, trying not to laugh.

<”What, this?”> she said, holding the Jack-O'-Lantern up higher. She showed it off to Ash, moving it nearer to him for a better look. <”It’s just a vegetable!”>

<”Stay away!”> he hissed desperately, pressing himself up against the wall. <”I cry!”>

<”Oh really?”> she moved another step nearer, revelling in his misery. She probably thrived off his discomfort like her brother did, the little witch! He strafed the wall, groping around for something, anything… he found a door handle, slid it open, and fell into the bathroom. He slammed the door closed after him. <”Guess he really needed to go!”> Kaori said smugly.

<”Stop teasing him,”> Eiji said, stifling giggles. <”Go put that thing on the kitchen counter or something!”>

<”Oh, where everyone can see and admire it?”> she said, raising her voice so Ash could hear her in the bathroom. <”Sounds good to me!”>

“You’re all mean!” he shouted back. “I hate the Japanese!”

<”Ash, come out of the bathroom,”> Eiji pleaded. <”She’s put it away. It’s safe to come out.”>

“Did you tell her?” Ash asked, a note of betrayal in his wavering voice.

“I tell no-one,” Eiji reassured. “Kaori just like Hallowe’en, is all. She like cosplay and spooky stuff. I would have warned you, but you never give chance.”

The bathroom door opened a crack and a green eye glared out.

“I’m not sure if I believe you or not…” Ash said warily.

“Believe what want, I keep secret, but way you react gave it away,” Eiji shrugged. “Are you coming out or what? We can put cloth over ‘Kabocha-kun’ if it scare you that much.”

“There’s only one Jack-O'-Lantern, yeah?”

“Only one.”

He opened the door fully, a sulky, embarrassed expression on his face, a light rose blush on his cheeks.

“I sorry,” Eiji told him with an apologetic smile. “You come all this way to escape pumpkin, and I have horrible sister who like to taunt.”

<”Not my fault he’s a scaredy baby!”> Kaori’s voice came from the kitchenette.

“She did bring some smaller squash with her,” Eiji told him. “I was going to make some tasty thing with them. You can eat your fear!”

“Sounds delicious…” Ash said sarcastically. 

***

Ash made sure he was sat in the corner of the room furthest from the kitchenette, legs curled up under him as he perched on the bed, eyeing up Eiji and Kaori with suspicion as they hacked up the gourds into less terrifying and more manageable chunks, all while bickering with each other in Japanese. ‘Kabocha-kun’ himself sat under a towel on top of the microwave, so at least he didn’t have to look at its gargoyle-like face, but just knowing it was there was bad enough.

<”I was thinking of making sides of tempura and simmered squash,”> Eiji said. <”There’s two hob rings, a grill, a rice cooker, and a microwave, but no oven, so I don’t have a lot of room in the kitchen for much else. There’ll be loads left over though, so I could make soup for tomorrow.”>

<”Sounds good to me, Ei-nii!”> Kaori agreed. <”You got any meat to go with it? Or eggs maybe? I’m in the mood for rolled omelette!”>

<”I’ll grill some mackerel and there’s still some pickles in the cupboard, so I think we’re set.”>

<”Oh yeah – you really like fish, don’t you Ash?”>

“Please don’t come near me in that sweater…” Ash grumbled while Kaori laughed.

“Big baby,” she mocked him in English.

<”Everyone have fear,”> he muttered. <”Next time I come, I bring spider! You no laugh then…”>

<”C’mon Ash, there are still less pumpkins in here than there are back home,”> Eiji reasoned.

“I guess…”

<”Think of it as exposure therapy,”> Kaori snickered, holding one of the little squashes up to mock him.

“That’s it! I’m finding a hotel!” Ash sniped, standing and making his way to the door.

<”Don’t be stupid,”> Eiji said, stopping him. <”Kaori’ll be good.”>

<”Kaori guarantees nothing!”> Kaori sniggered.

<”Kaori’ll be good, or her big brother will kick her out!”>

<”Mean! Blood is thicker than water, Ei-nii!”>

“I can think of an innuendo to counteract that,” Ash smirked. “Just thinking of things that are thicker than-“

<”Don’t,”> Eiji warned him.

“Fine!”

“How about, you take bath while we cook?” Eiji suggested quietly. “That way, you not have to see pumpkin. It will not take us long to prepare meal, and you can relax after long flight. Sound good?”

Ash nodded, glaring at Kaori over Eiji’s shoulder as she stuck her tongue out cheekily. As he locked himself away in the bathroom again, he heard Eiji chiding his sister for her behaviour again.

<”You’re lucky that you’re my sister and we’re not in America right now, because he has shot people for less!”>

<”Ooooh, I’m so scared!”> she said sarcastically. <”Just remind me to hire a body gourd- oops! I meant guard!”>

Eiji laughed.

***

By the time he left the bathroom, feeling refreshed and relaxed, Eiji had hidden the remaining squash in a cupboard where he couldn’t see them, and the ones to be eaten were now in satisfying chunks and being boiled in soy sauce and mirin or dipped into hot oil, which was strangely cathartic for him.

 _‘Fry, you creepy fucker, fry!’_ he thought to himself, glaring at the tempura-coated vegetables as they bubbled and hissed in the pan.

<”Almost done,”> Eiji told him, while Kaori set up three places on the low table. The room was filled with the alluring scents of fresh-cooked rice and grilled fish as Eiji served up a simple but delicious feast for the three of them. The star of the show were the pumpkin dishes though; a large plate of sweet simmered chunks steaming away temptingly, sat beside a tray of hot and crispy battered slices.

<”I gratefully receive!”> Eiji and Kaori said in unison, before tucking in.

Ash, however, was a little more reluctant. He picked at his mackerel and rice and munched on half-a-dozen pickles, but kept avoiding the pumpkin

<”At least try it,”> Kaori told him. <”It won’t bite!”>

<”He’s eaten it before,”> Eiji said matter-of-factly.

“What?”

<”In America. I’ve cooked pumpkin for you before. A couple of times, actually. You never asked what it was; you just ate it.”>

“You sneaky little…”

<”Just try it,”> Eiji said, smiling. <”If you don’t like it then, I won’t force you. But you won’t know unless you give it a go!”>

Ash decided to try the tempura. Tentatively, he picked up the smallest piece he could see, pinching it between chopsticks and thoroughly examining it.

 _‘It doesn’t look so bad now it’s dead,’_ he thought, before delicately nibbling at a corner. He was pleasantly surprised as a delicious sweetness melted into his mouth. It tasted a little bit like sweet potato, with a chestnut aftertaste. _‘Holy shit, it’s actually nice!’_

<”Good, yes?”> Eiji asked him. He didn’t reply, but he finished the piece he held and went back in for more, which effectively answered the question.

 _‘Eating your fears feels good…’_ he thought as he loaded up his bowl with chunks of simmered kabocha. _‘Digest, you fruit of satan! Turn into the shit you aspire to be! I am your master now!’_

<”I think he’s gotten over his phobia,”> Kaori tittered.

“Shut up…” he growled. <“They are still creepy.”>

***

Eiji, ever the gentleman, had given Kaori his bed for the night, while he and Ash lay together in a double futon on the floor. Ash was a lot stiffer than usual, and was clearly having difficulty relaxing.

<”What’s up? Jet lag affecting you?”> Eiji yawned, feeling him shift under the covers.

“I can sense it staring at me through the cloth…”

<”Do what?”>

“That motherfucker on the microwave…”

“Oh. Well, good job you have me here protect you…” Eiji said, smiling in the dark. He sidled over so he could lay an arm over a tense Ash. “Pumpkin no dare attack you while I am here! I fry it and boil it if it does.”

“You hear that, you orange bastard…” Ash muttered. He raised a hand, pointing at his eyes with two of his fingers and then pointing the same fingers towards the Jack-O'-Lantern. “No funny business!” he hissed, before settling down, snuggling close to Eiji who held him lightly but comfortingly under the blanket.

<”If you two don’t mind, I’m trying to sleep here!”> Kaori said. <”Jeez… flirt in the morning, damn noisy lovebirds!”>


End file.
